Excess body fat can detract from personal appearance, reduce athletic performance, and even result in risks to health. Human health problems associated with excess body fat include diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In many situations, excess body fat can be reduced by increasing physical activity, reducing caloric intake, or both. Nevertheless, these traditional approaches are often impractical or insufficient, for example due to physical injury or metabolic disorder. In addition, methods based solely on exercise or diet cannot be targeted effectively to achieve fat loss in specific locations on the body.
An alternative method of reducing body fat is stimulating metabolic rate by administration of pharmacologically active agents. Examples of drugs used to stimulate metabolism are hormones, e.g., human growth hormone or insulin-like growth factor, and stimulants, e.g., ephedrine or caffeine. Disadvantages of using drugs to reduce body fat include the need for medical supervision and the risk of unwanted side effects.
GB 2305603 discloses topical gels containing a volatile and/or absorbable component to cool the skin thereby initiating localised thermogenesis but preventing localised temperature equilibration. This localised thermogenesis leads to removal of the fat deposits via their metabolism. The treated skin may be covered with fabric such as a jump-suit. Exemplified compositions contains 0.9% carbomer, 0.2% preservative, 0.2% sodium EDTA, 2.53% menthol, 1.0% camphor, 20.00% ethanol, 0.001% FD & C Blue, 0.4% triethanolamine, 0.2% d-panthenol, 0.5% hyaluronic acid and made up to 100% with water. The concept of GB 2305603 is thus to utilise this phenomenon of thermogenesis, and to activate it locally, by preparing a composition which can be controllably applied to the excess fatty areas of the body, without allowing the body to overcome the “cold” effect in the treated area. In other words, the composition is so formed that the body surface temperature is allowed to drop locally at the treated area, by only a small amount for example between a half and four degrees. GB 2305603 tries to reduce body fat by an “externally applied” effect.
DE 2405900 describes a weight reduction preparation to be applied locally using a bandage or wrap having an absorption capacity of about 35%, wherein the preparation consists of 51% alcohol (96%), 30% camomile, 4% menthol, 4% camphor, 3% sodium chloride, 2% calcium chloride, and 6% potassium chloride in a saturated solution to be applied. DE 2405900 also tries to reduce local body fat by an “externally applied” effect.
Finally WO 00/44346 discloses compositions and methods for controlled lowering of skin temperature of a human subject. The method includes providing a cooling solution comprising about 60-90% water, about 40-10% alcohol, 0.02-2.0% menthol, and 0.02-2.0% camphor; contacting the cooling solution with a region of the skin of the subject for 10 to 60 minutes, thereby cooling the skin. This controlled skin cooling stimulates a localized thermal response. Stimulation of the thermal response at appropriate time intervals can be used to achieve localized fat reduction or to reduce localized inflammation. Thus, WO 00/44346 also tries to reduce local body fat by an “externally applied” effect.
Although there has been a long-lasting attempt to provide for an effective and comfortable way to reduce local body fat, as can be taken from the above references, still an effective preparation is lacking that effectively reduces local body fat, and at the same time has an acceptable compliance for the user. Another important aspect is the safety of the product in order to allow its use, for example, in a pediatric environment.
Pieces of clothing are usually formed by woven or non-woven fabrics and are put on in order to enwrap human body parts. Thereby, a tubular structure is provided for each body part, which is adapted to the size of the respective body part. The tubular fabric wrap has an essentially axial extension, into which the body part extends, and an essentially radial extension around said body part. For a good fit to the body part the fabric wrap is endlessly closed in its perimeter so that a kind of a tunnel-like structure is formed. It is common that pieces of clothing—e.g. provided with an elastomer material—have certain kind of elasticity and are dimensioned in a way that they fit the shape of said body part adapting it in its perimeter.
In recent years in particular in the field of sports technology new clothing systems have been developed which are supposed to ensure an optimum heat and liquid dissipation from the skin to the outside via the piece of clothing. Furthermore, these so-called “breathable” materials have the job to repel liquids, such as rain. With these systems it is acted on the assumption that a higher performance of the human body can be achieved with sufficient heat dissipation and preventing intense accumulation of wetness on the skin. Above all, these breathable pieces of clothing are supposed to prevent the body from cooling off as soon as the workout phase is over.
It is common knowledge to cool body parts by applying cooling agents or cooling gels to the respective regions of the skin in order to reduce or prevent injuries of body parts, such as muscles or joints. If necessary, the region which the cooling cream or cooling lotion has been applied to can be covered with a compress or a dressing material.
Furthermore, in particular in sweaty sports, such as tennis, it is common to wear arm or headbands, which are supposed to absorb endogenous liquids, such as sweat, so that these liquids cannot reach the body regions required for the sport.
It is a first object of the invention to provide a preparation that effectively reduces local body fat, and at the same time has an acceptable safety and compliance for the user.
It is a second object of the invention to provide for a piece of clothing for a human body part with extended functionality, in particular by which the performance of the human body can be enhanced or a metabolic activity in a particular region of the body can be stimulated.
Other objects of the present invention will become apparent to the person of skill when reading the following specification, examples, claims and figures of the present invention.